1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus to be placed on an installation surface during use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most electronic apparatuses, such as personal computers, have, inside a housing, a fan for exhausting air out of the housing for heat radiation because electronic components contained in the housing generate heat. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 4-48693 (FIG. 5) and 4-284519 (FIG. 5) disclose notebook personal computers in which a main housing containing electronic components such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is pivotally connected to a display housing having a liquid crystal display panel so as to be placed on the display housing. The notebook computers are used in a state in which the main housing is placed on an installation surface and the display housing is opened to slightly tilt rearward remote from a front user. The personal computer disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-48693 includes a fan for exhausting air out of the main housing, and two exhaust openings through which the air from the fan is exhausted. Air passing through one of the exhaust openings is exhausted obliquely upward and toward the user, and the other exhaust opening points in the horizontal direction. In contrast, the personal computer disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 4-284519 includes an exhaust opening pointing obliquely upward and rearward.
In the notebook personal computer disclosed in the former publication, air exhausted from one of the exhaust openings hits the user, and a comfortable operating environment cannot be ensured. Moreover, air exhausted from the other exhaust opening hits the installation surface, and produces wind noise. This also damages the operating environment. In the notebook personal computer disclosed in the latter publication, air exhausted from the exhaust opening pointing rearward hits not only the opened display housing, but also a wall disposed behind the notebook personal computer. This produces wind noise that annoys the user.
Wind noise is also produced when the velocity of air increases at the exhaust opening.
In addition, when sound produced inside the main housing, for example, noise of fan driving, is transmitted to the user, the operating environment is also damaged.